330 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



fleshy substance, apparently without large or tough fibres, 

 and is covered with a rather thick, light brown skin. The 

 plant is attached to the sides of the streams on which it 

 grows, by numbers of long, fine, fibrous radicles, which pen- 

 etrate and adhere firmly to the loam or clay of the banks. 

 Entangled among their roots, were large quantities of decayed 

 leaves and other vegetable substances, from which the plant 

 very probably derives some portion of its nutriment, though, 

 from the bubbles of air frequently found under the leaves, it 

 would seem to possess the power of decomposing a portion 

 of the water in which it grows. I was informed that it also 

 grew in places which were dry at certain seasons of the year ; 

 that the leaves then died down, but the root, buried in the 

 mud, retained its vitality, and, when water returned, fresh 

 leaves burst forth. The natives spoke of it as tenacious of 

 life, and said that whenever the earth around, even the small- 

 est portion of it, remained moist, that portion would put forth 

 leaves when again covered with water. 



" This plant is valuable to the natives, who, at certain 

 seasons of the year, gather it as an article of food, the fleshy 

 root, when cooked, yielding a farinaceous substance resem- 

 bling a yam — hence its name, water yam. 



" The Ouvirandra is not only a rare and curious, but a sin- 

 gularly beautiful plant, both in color and structure. From 

 the several crowns of the branching root, growing often 

 nearly a foot deep in the water, a number of graceful leaves, 

 nine or ten inches long and two or three broad, rise on slen- 

 der stalks and spread out horizontally, jms^ heiieaih the surface 

 of the water. The flower stem rises from the centre of the 

 leaves, and the branching or fork-like inflorescence is curious ; 

 but the structure of the leaf is peculiarly so, and seems like 

 a living fibrous skeleton, rather than a perfect leaf. The 

 longitudinal fibres extend in curved lines along its entire 

 length, and are united by thread-like fibres or veins crossing 

 them at right angles from side to side at short distances from 

 each other. The whole leaf looks as if composed of fine 

 tendrils, wrought after a most regular pattern, so as to resem- 

 ble a piece of bright green lace, or open needlework. Each 



